Former Irish National Team member and longtime assistant at Oakland and Troy Claire Scanlan will serve as an assistant coach for the UAlbany women's soccer team starting in the 2017 season.

Scanlan comes to UAlbany after three years as an assistant coach at Oakland University from 2014-16. She helped the Golden Grizzlies win the Horizon League in 2015 with a 6-1-2 conference record that year with her team having a 3.59 GPA, the highest of the department.

Previous to Oakland, Scanlan was at Troy University from 2008-14 as the associate head coach. Troy qualified for the Sun Belt Tournament each season.

She also has head coaching experience with the Olympic Development Programs in Michigan and Alabama as well as the England College National Team, the Filton College Women's Soccer Academy and the Bristol Academy Women's Professional Team. Her Filton College teams won four national championships.

She played for the Irish National Team for 15 years, also serving as an assistant coach for the team from 2007-09. She was the head coach of the U23 Irish National Team from 2007-08.

She played professionally throughout the world, including in the United States, England, Ireland and Japan. She won an American W-League national championship with the Springfield Sirens in 2000 and a conference championship as a team captain with the Memphis Mercury.

Scanlan is currently in the Mercyhurst Athletics Hall of Fame, playing there from 1992-95. She was the Division II National Player of the Year and a two-time All-American, finishing her career with 58 goals and 29 assists.

Scanlan graduated from Mercyhurst in 1996 with a Bachelor of Arts in business, specializing in sports organization management. She earned her Master of Science Degree at Troy in 2001 in Foundations of Education, concentrating in sport & fitness management.